Class record · ENGL · MCAS

ENGL 3825

True Crime: Scoundrels, Villains, and Vice · 1 instructor on record · 1 section

What the course score is made of

90BC evaluations1 record · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

31stMore challenging than 31% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

87BC — “Intellectually Challenging”1 record · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

25thMore work than 25% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

40BC — “Workload”1 record · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

The old adage "If it bleeds, it leads" suggests an uneasy fascination with crime, murder, and violence preoccupies American culture and media. From the colonial period to the present day, true crime narratives have simultaneously disgusted, riveted, and terrified audiences. Although critics have denounced the genre as glorifying crime and titillating spectators, real-life crime narratives also invite readers to contemplate the ways in which people engage in transgressive behavior that violates societal norms. This course will examine the evolution of the true crime genre to explore how these narratives reveal changing attitudes about gender, mental illness, morality, race, and so on. Our analyses will center on three pressing questions: What are the ethics of consuming tales of real-world tragedies? Further, how do these narratives reveal shifting societal anxieties surrounding crime, discipline, and trauma? And, finally, how does the genre of true crime perpetuate, complicate, or refute harmful stereotypes about marginalized groups, such as racial minorities?

The only instructor on record

1 section · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge	RMP overall
Vincent PortilloAssistant Professor of the Practice · English Provisional	911 record	25th	31st	965 ratings · all classes

There is no ranking to read here: Vincent Portillo is the only instructor with evaluation records for ENGL 3825, so the number is a record, not a position. It rests on 1 record, which is thin — read it as provisional. The RateMyProfessors figure is their overall score across everything they teach, not their score in this class.

Also taught by Vincent Portillo

6 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
ENGL 1010First Year Writing Seminar	136442 records	80
ENGL 1080Literature Core	90257 records	80
ENGL 3821Sporting Rhetorics: Language, Games, and Culture	13 records	91
ENGL 3338Americanization and the Rhetorics of Citizenship	12 records	88
ENGL 1748From Loneliness to Connection: The Literacy of Human Connection	11 record	88
ENGL 3344American Archives: Memorials, Monuments, and Memory	11 record	71

Other ENGL classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
ENGL 1010First Year Writing Seminar	136442 records	80
ENGL 1080Literature Core	90257 records	80
ENGL 1079Literature Core for Multilingual Students	1340 records	89
ENGL 2221Introduction to Creative Writing	936 records	90
ENGL 2133Studies in Narrative	1634 records	87
ENGL 2131Studies in Poetry	1333 records	84

The line

All 13 items · means across 1 record

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9345th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9455th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9456th pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9661st pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9150th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9149th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9033rd pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9473rd pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

621st pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

787th pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

4025th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

8731st pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

9357th pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

1 section · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Vincent Portillo	Fall 2025	01	91	90	40

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.